Netflix has an insane amount of content, but it’s not always easy to find exactly what you want.
The categories that Netflix normally gives you access to while browsing are pretty broad, but below the surface Netflix actually splits movies and TV shows into hundreds (potentially thousands) of incredibly specific micro-categories.
All these categories are tagged with a number – for example, “Epics” is category No. 52858. If you know the code, all you have to do is type it into your address bar after “genre/,” like this: http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/52858.
But it's annoying to try to find those codes, which is why engineer Deekshith Allamaneni decided to make a Chrome extension that makes it easy for you to find them.
The extension, called "Netflix Categories," gives you a dropdown menu for the categories and a search bar. It lets you mark your favorites. Right now, the extension has more than 100 categories, and Allamaneni says more will be added.
This short video shows how it works:
If you're curious to see some of best secret categories, following is a list we put together of 18 of them:
Wine and Beverage Appreciation (1458)
Sample: "Drinking Buddies" (2013). Complications ensue when Chicago brewery workmates Luke and Kate - the best friends on and off the clock - spend a weekend at a lakeside retreat.
More examples: "The Birth of Sake," "Three Stars," "A Yeah in Champagne"
Steamy British Independent Dramas (4170)
Sample: "The Look of Love" (2013). This bittersweet biopic chronicles the over-the-top life of Paul Raymond, England's Hugh Hefner, from nightclub to mind reader to burlesque impresario.
Other examples: "The Duke of Burgundy," "Perfect Sense," "The Comedian"
Movies for Ages 0 to 2 (6796)
Sample: "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas" (1999). Who stuffs your stocking with tales of holiday cheer? The one and only mouse with big, round ears!
Other examples: "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "Three Little Pigs," "Piglet's Big Movie"
Gritty Tearjerkers (276)
Sample: "Fruitvale Station" (2013). This dramatic rendering of a real-life tragedy recounts the final hours of Oscar Grant, who was shot by San Francisco Transit Police on New Year's Day in 2009.
Other examples: "Remembrance," "The Impossible"
Cerebral Scandinavian Movies (995)
Sample: "Melancholia" (2011). The cosmos is in turmoil as planets collide. As above, so below - it's going to be a strange wedding day.
Other examples: "Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 and 2," "The Girl King," "Tikkun"
Understated Horror Movies (4765)
Sample: "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" (2014). A bad town suddenly got a lot worse: There's a vampire lurking in the shadows, and she has an agenda.
More examples: "The Unwanted," "They Look Like People," "When Animals Dream"
Critically Acclaimed Animal Tales (566)
Sample: "Chicken Run" (2000). Two chickens hatch an elaborate plan to escape the farm before their goose is cooked. Can they fly the coop?
Other examples: "Antz," "Babe"
Social-Issue Dramas (3947)
Sample: "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962). A valiant lawyer, a black man falsely accused. Seen through the eyes of a feisty girl, innocence and justice collide.
Other examples: "Glory Road," "Omar," "He Got Game," "Mona Lisa Smile"
Korean Crime Thrillers (434)
Sample: "Oldboy" (2003). With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged, and tortured for 15 years, a desperate businessman seeks revenge on his captors.
Other examples: "The Chronicles of Evil," "Sea Fog"
Heartfelt Sports Movies (4116)
Sample: "Undefeated" (2011). An inspirational profile of an inner-city high school football team's valiant effort to reach the school's first-ever playoff game.
Other examples: "The Real Miyagi," "4 Minute Mile," "Legendary"
British Coming-of-Age Movies (2386)
Sample: "Fish Tank" (2009). The life of a hot-tempered teen outcast takes an unexpected turn when her mother brings home a handsome and mysterious boyfriend.
Other examples: "The Falling," "Masterpiece Classic: The Diary of Anne Frank"
Cult Satanic Stories (3527)
Sample: "Stephen King's Children of the Corn" (1984). A couple stranded in a rural town falls into the hands of a group of children who murder all the town's adults at the command of their leader.
Other examples: Three Hellraiser movies
Car-Culture Shows (753)
Sample: "Top Gear" (2015). A spin around the track one moment, a race against Japan's bullet train the next. Too bad this isn't your job.
Other examples: "Revenge of the Electric Car"
Creature Features (6895)
Sample: "The Host" (2006). A mutant creature has developed from toxic chemical dumping. When a monster scoops up the daughter of a snack-bar owner, he races to save her.
Other examples: "Troll Hunter," "Monsters," "Little Dead Rotting Hood"
B Horror Movies (8195)
Sample: "Sharknado" (2013). When a hurricane swamps Los Angeles, thousands of sharks are swept up in tornadoes and deposited all over the city, where they terrorize residents.
Other examples: "The Chosen" "Bachelor Night," "Exeter," "Shark Lake"
Kids Faith and Spirituality (751423)
Sample: "The Prince of Egypt" (1998). From the nine plagues of Egypt to the parting of the Red Sea, it's an animated spectacle 3,000 years in the making.
Other examples:"Joseph King of Dreams," "VeggieTales in the House"
Art-House Movies (29764)
Sample: "Human Capital" (2013). One family living in wealth and luxury, another struggling to stay afloat. Their fates linked by ties of love and money.
Other examples: "Divines," "Blue Is the Warmest Color," "Ned Rifle," "Charlie's Country"
Quirky Romance (36103)
Sample: "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012). This quirky drama follows the frantic search that ensues in a small New England town when two 12-year-olds fall in love and run away together.
Other examples: "Begin Again," "Dreamland," "Amélie," "Scoop"
Goofy Courtroom Movies (285)
There seems to be room on the market.
Here are some other hidden categories we were saddened to see didn't have any entries at the moment:
War Alien Sci-Fi (3570), Suspenseful Time-Travel Movies (2778), Sentimental Action and Adventure (4879), MTV TV Shows (4221), Irreverent Mysteries (2701), Feel-Good Education and Guidance Starring Muppets (4699).
If you want to see a longer list of genres, head to this website, where a kind soul has assembled a huge number of them. This site also provides the ability to search through them, though there are not as many categories.